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A Servant’s Heart

01 Wednesday Apr 2020

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5 Slaves, obey your human masters, with respect and reverence, with sincerity of heart, as you would the Messiah— 6 not just under your master’s eye as people-pleasers, but as slaves of Messiah doing God’s will from the soul. 7 Serve with a positive attitude, as to the Lord and not to men— 8 knowing that whatever good each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. – Ephesians 6:5-8, TLV

22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. – 1 Peter 1:22, TLV

In a sense, we work for Yeshua. We are employed by Yeshua to minister (to serve) men and women in Yehovah’s Kingdom on Earth. Now, no one is a slave in Yehovah’s Kingdom. We are brothers and sisters, which is why we need to know that in order for any of us to be seen as great in the Kingdom we must have a servant’s heart.

Unfortunately, there also are many Yeshua believers in Yehovah’s Kingdom on Earth who are servants in the pejorative sense of the term. They are modern-day slaves – the property of either just or unjust worldly masters.

Be that as it may. What Yehovah wants every Yeshuaian minister – whether free men and women or bondservants – to know is that all of His Kingdom Dwellers have to make the Gospel of Yeshua attractive in every way, primarily by exhibiting Yehovah’s holy Attributes and Morality while meeting people’s spiritual, emotional, and physical needs. This truth is why Paul gives five ways for believers in Yeshua who are bondservants to develop a servant’s heart – to always be ready to happily serve others selflessly and compassionately.

First, they are to be obedient to their human masters just like they are obedient to the One and only true Master – Yehovah. Next, they are to please their human masters just like they are to please Yehovah. Third, they are to hold their tongues and not talk back to their human masters just like their tongues are not to be used to murmur, tempt, curse or disrespect Yehovah. Then too, Yeshuaians who are slaves also are to work for everything they get without stealing from their masters’ possessions. Yehovah even tells these Yeshuaians that they are not supposed to covet what their masters own. Fifth, Yeshuaians who are slaves are to show their masters that they are trustworthy and loyal workers.

As Yeshua followers, Yehovah expects us to show the world that our behaviors are representative of Yeshua’s righteous and holy Character and Morality, which are the same as Yehovah’s. Put differently, we have to be powerful witnesses for Yeshua in the presence of our employers, no matter if we work as free men and women or as bondservants.

Let us be Yehovah’s Crowning Glory. Let us also remember that the world will know if we have the heart of a servant when we respond as happily and selflessly as we would to the people who treat us like we are their slaves! Shalom.

Hear Then Obey Yehovah’s Will . . . .  

Golden Rule Exemplified

05 Tuesday Apr 2016

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The Golden Rule

 

It used to be that many public elementary schools’ principals would have the golden rule hanging on a wall in their offices. Today it is unlikely that we would find many school principals in any public or private setting who have any Bible Scriptures hanging on their walls.

It used to be that schoolteachers—both saved and unsaved—would quote and teach the significance of the golden rule, whenever they had to reprimand misguided children who bullied or harassed others. Nowadays it is unlikely that we would find many Christian or nonbelievers who are educators in today’s schools that quote and teach the importance of any biblical principles, even though the number of misguided children needing to be reprimanded is far greater than it used to be.

Without a doubt, the do unto others as you would have them do unto you principle has become the “I’m going to get you got FIRST” declaration for many adults. Consequently, children now bring guns to school, and they now disrespect adults and their peers. They also curse, rob, lie and kill on the same level as some of this world’s most hardened criminals. The fact that moral standards are not being enforced in their schools, homes and communities is the fundamental reason why more and more of today’s young people are embracing—as their own way of life—the ungodly behaviors they observe in movies, on television programs, in their homes, in their schools, in the streets, in their churches, and so forth.

Based on this world’s current state of affairs, we who believe in the Lord’s golden rule need to reclaim our young people. Let us save our babies from killing babies. Let us teach our youth how to treat themselves—and others—with love, dignity and respect.

We know that it often is easier to teach by example—more so than it is to teach what we neither believe in nor live. That is why we who are Christ followers not only need to frame, hang, quote and/or skywrite the golden rule, but also we first need to illustrate its principle by daily living it. We need to be Christian parents, mentors, pastors, worship leaders, community leaders, schoolteachers, school officials, politicians, and etcetera, who truly demonstrate moral, ethical, holy and righteous living. Let us be the genuine Christlike individuals our youth need to emulate. Shalom.

“And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.” ~ Lk 6:31

Keep it real…Live it out…Watch it work!

 

 

~ a devotion from my book – Keeping It Real: Daily Renewing the Mind

05 Thursday Apr 2012

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I first posted this entry in April 2010. As this 2012 Holy Week continues, I am Holy Spirit led to reblog this entry. For sure, what I wrote back then is even more important today.

Gone Fishin'

Marriage Supper Invitation

And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which…

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A Contextual Analysis of Christ’s Many Called, Few Chosen Paradox

09 Friday Apr 2010

Posted by in Bible Prophecy

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Marriage Supper Invitation

And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen. (Matthew 22:1-14, KJV)

Many believers have a difficult time understanding what Jesus the Christ means when He says: “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14, KJV). Some of these believers who are hopelessly bewildered or just impudently sarcastic ask: Called for what? Chosen for what?

Since it always is important to know the context in which something is said or done, then the meaning of “…many are called, but few are chosen” must be examined in context with the last week of the Lord’s life on Earth—in context with His Passion Week. The following reasons are why the Lord’s words are connected to the Passion Week.

Indisputably, all of the events of the Passion Week lead up to the Lord’s crucifixion, especially those lessons He teaches to His disciples and the multitudes right after His victorious entry into Jerusalem. In fact, the conflict between the true Messiah and the political rulers and religious leaders becomes exceedingly inflamed when the chief priests, Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, and Jerusalem’s Jewish elders take issue with the authoritative nature of Jesus the Christ’s  teaching (cf. Matthew 21:23-27).

The omniscient God is aware of the exact moment when the chief priests, Pharisees, and Jewish elders would endure their proverbial last straw, and no doubt this awareness is why God directs Jesus the Christ to sandwich His Parable of the Wedding Banquet in between His triumphant entry into Jerusalem and His prophetic Olivet Discourse on the last days and end times. Actually, many scholars declare that the Lord teaches the Parable of the Wedding Banquet in the middle of His Passion Week, on Wednesday, or the day before He is betrayed and crucified (note here that a Jewish day is from sundown to sundown; for example, the Jewish Wednesday would begin on Tuesday at sundown and end on Wednesday at sundown, which at the same time would begin Thursday).

The timing of the Lord’s teaching on this parable, therefore, is by design, because the timing symbolizes the Marriage Supper of the Lamb’s preparation times—the time of the Old Testament prophets’ ministry, the time of Jesus the Christ and the first-century apostles’ ministries, and the time of Gentile spiritual leaders’ calling, inviting, evangelizing, discipling, and warning. These banquet preparations, thus, begin in the distant past, centuries before the birth of Jesus the Christ, and continue long after the Lord’s first coming, even in this modern day!

It should be noted here that the Wedding Banquet not only is mentioned in the New Testament (cf. Matthew 22:1-14; Luke 14:1, 7-11, and 16-24 [except, as the Great Supper]; and Revelation 19:9), but also is mentioned in Rabbinic Literature. Traditionally, Jewish people have believed for thousands of years that a time is coming when they will enjoy the privilege of breaking bread with their Messiah—a time when God, in honor of His Son, assembles and seats around a banquet table, according to the rank and order of the chiefs of the clans of Israel, the Jewish wise and learned men, and the Jewish religious leaders.

In fact, over time, the Jewish community religious leaders of Jerusalem elevated their common meals to feast status so that “they” not only could institute a rank and seating order but also so that they could practice what they believed it would be like when they get the chance to eat with their Messiah at the Great Supper. As man’s understanding would have it, these Jewish elitists actually convinced themselves that their elevated common meal not only is an archetypal pattern of the traditional Great Supper but also is a “peaceful” representation of that Great Supper.

However, Luke describes Jesus the Christ’s attendance at one of these elevated common meals, to which the renowned Jewish religious leaders also have been invited, as both a portrait of a war zone and an image of the traditional Messianic Feast (cf. Luke 14:1, 7-11)! The irony here is that these renowned Jewish religious leaders who gathered in the house of a prominent Pharisee NEVER truly realize that their time of breaking bread with their Messiah already had come! The irony abounds, because it is evident that ONLY Jesus the Christ is aware that this dinner table seating arrangement is really the quintessence battleground table setting rather than the prophesied peaceful Messianic Feast’s table setting.

In this confrontational atmosphere, the invited Jewish elitists are more interested in closely watching Jesus the Christ’s actions than they are concerned about seeing Him as the most important person who EVER attended one of their Jewish get-togethers. Moreover, since a man who has dropsy also is at this elevated common meal, these Jewish elitists have fixed their eyes on Jesus the Christ, in anticipation of His next move (cf. Luke 14:1-2). They want to see how He responds to this sick man.

For sure, NOT one of these “important” and without any physical blemishes Jewish men would have publicly invited any lame, blind, mute, poor, or disabled person to this dinner gathering (cf. The Rule of the Congregation, a Dead Sea Scroll; and Leviticus 21:18-23). Nevertheless, the man who has dropsy is in attendance, so Jesus the Christ uses this opportunity to revolutionize these Jewish elitists’ understanding of God’s Great Supper.

The Lord heals the man who has dropsy, which should make his (the healed man’s) presence now acceptable, but because this healing takes place on the Sabbath the arrogant and proud guests at this elevated common meal are not interested in accepting the healed man. For sure, their interest ONLY is in their increasing hostility toward the Messiah, which has resulted in their supper environment becoming the opposite of the peaceful setting expected at the traditional Messianic Feast. The problem, once again, is that these invited wise, intelligent, and religious prominent men, ironically, are ignorant of the fact that the Lord is dealing with their intolerant, prejudicial treatments of the poor, powerless, sickly, handicapped, and seemingly unimportant individuals whom they have labeled as “unworthy” to be included in their symbolic seating arrangement of the assembled chief priest, other priests, other “important” Jewish men, and the Messiah.

Now, Luke’s Great Supper Parable comes much earlier in the ministry timeline of Jesus the Christ than does Matthew’s Wedding Banquet, and perhaps this timeline difference is why Luke records a milder treatment of those guests who initially are invited to the prophesied Messianic Feast, as opposed to the harsh treatment of those guests who initially are invited in Matthew’s Wedding Banquet Parable. Moreover, Luke’s reference to the invited poor, blind, disabled, and lame guests (v. 21) lays the foundation for Matthew’s “both bad and good” invitees (v. 10), for the King’s welcoming of “both bad and good” not only carbon copies Jesus’ own mission in this world, which is to save ALL sinners, but also the King’s welcome makes it clear that God’s Grace is able to forgive and transform even the most wretched individuals!

Furthermore, there are other differences between Luke and Matthew’s parables. Those differences include: referring to the person who is hosting the dinner as “a certain man” (Luke) versus “a certain King” (Matthew); calling the dinner a “great supper” (Luke) versus a “wedding banquet” (Matthew); sending one invitation to the initial guests (Luke) versus two invitations (Matthew); making excuses for their refusal and then returning to their daily interests (Luke) versus refusing the first invitation, then mocking the messengers/servants who come with a second invitation, then while some invited guests return to their daily interests, others attack and murder the messengers/servants (Matthew); searching the streets for the poor, blind, disabled, and lame (Luke) versus the bad and the good (Matthew); and ignoring the rude behavior of the invited guests (Luke) versus killing those who murdered the King’s messengers/servants, and burning the murderers’ city (Matthew). Lastly, there is no mention of the man who is improperly dressed (Luke) versus rebuking and then punishing the man who is NOT wearing his wedding garment (Matthew).

Differences notwithstanding, what is important to note about Matthew’s Wedding Banquet Parable is that there is no doubt that the King’s (Father God’s) wedding banquet in this parable is given in honor of His Son, Jesus the Christ, who by His atoning sacrifice has entered into a marriage contract—a spiritual union—with His chosen Bride, His ekklesia referred to as the CHURCH. For this reason, once again, the timing of this wedding banquet is not the actual time of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, but rather the time of preparations—of calling, of inviting, of evangelizing, of discipling, and even of warning!

Indisputably, there are many Scriptures that speak of the Wedding Feast being prepared specifically for the Bride of Christ (again, the ekklesia referred to as the CHURCH, which is primarily the Gentile nations), so even though Jesus the Christ doesn’t explicitly say that the Wedding Banquet is for His special guests—His Bride or the CHURCH, ekklesia or the “called out ones,” the discipled believers who come from the four corners of the world—the collective Bride of Christ is understood to be the King’s (God’s) invited “as many as you can find” guests. Therefore, the sending of the King’s messengers/servants into the streets (cf. Matthew 22:9, NIV), metaphorically speaking, the Gentile nations, no doubt represents the Great Commission.

Thus, if believers ever hope to enter into the heavenly Kingdom of God and sit down at the Lord’s Table, then they (collectively, the Bride, but individually, a guest) must be aware of how they appear to God, now, so that if changes need to be made those changes can be achieved on this side of the Rapture. Since any opportunity for salvation is by Father God’s special invitation (God’s Grace), He, thus, automatically lists in the “guest” category anyone He calls/invites to receive His salvation gift, which transforms and makes every recipient a “worthy” invitee. For this reason, every called/invited “guest” must put on the appropriate wedding garment, or be cast out of the wedding hall—denied a seat at the wedding table! There will be NO exceptions!

This contextual analysis of Matthew 22:14 helps us to see that Jesus the Christ’s closing words in the Wedding Banquet Parable contain the moral of this parable, which is revealed through the King’s (God’s) repeated invitations. Moreover, the moral of the Wedding Banquet Parable answers the questions: Called for what? Chosen for what?

For sure, the “many” in Matthew 22:14 = ALL (every person God calls/invites to accept Jesus the Christ as Lord and Savior and to receive eternal life). God indeed calls/invites every Jewish individual and every person from every Gentile nation to accept His salvation gift.

Then too, the “few” in Matthew 22:14 = NOT ALL (NOT every person God calls/invites will be chosen/selected or make it to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb). God clearly wants every person He calls to be the choice or the best of those who sit at the Lord’s Table. However, the truth of the matter is that NOT every one will respond properly to the call, by accepting it, and not every person who does respond properly will do what is necessary to ensure that he or she is prepared to enter into the Kingdom of God.

In other words, the moral of this parable is: NOT every “called” Israelite/Hebrew and NOT every “called” Gentile will be “chosen” (will be selected) or will make it into the Kingdom of God as the Bride of Christ, as the worthy guest, who enters the banquet hall and sits at the Lord’s Table! In essence, God is not expecting those of us who ONLY hear His Word to accept His command to prepare ourselves for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, but He is expecting those of us who hear, obey, and keep His Word to take advantage of this calling, inviting, evangelizing, discipling and warning time to get prepared, and help others to do the same!

For sure, God through the proclamation of the Gospel calls/invites EVERY person to obtain salvation and an eternal life in the Kingdom of God through Jesus the Christ. Next, those individuals who receive Jesus the Christ as their Lord and Savior are chosen (selected/set apart) to prepare for His Marriage Supper of the Lamb so that they can be in attendance at this event, wearing the appropriate attire. Put differently, the spiritual implication of the Parable of the Wedding Banquet is that, even though all born again believers are saved by Grace, not all of today’s born again and saved believers will be serious enough about their salvation to prepare their heart’s clothing (to take the time to develop a holy and righteous heart for God) by doing holy and righteous deeds for others! In essence, the Kingdom of Heaven’s holiness and righteousness, those God and Christ-like characteristics that are NOT being reflected in the “works” that many of today’s believers are doing for God will prevent many who acknowledge Jesus the Christ as their Lord and Savior from being included in the Bride of Christ (the resurrected dead in Christ and the raptured or translated alive in Christ), who along with Father God’s other invited guests will be seated at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb’s table! In The Message version of the Holy Bible, Jesus the Christ words are expressed this way: “That’s what I mean when I say, ‘Many get invited; only a few make it’” (Matthew 22:14).

Since proud and conceited people often think they can make it to Heaven without accepting God’s redemption plan, since they think that they can make it by following ANOTHER path, this is the reason why God’s ways seem so paradoxical and restricted to them. Such was the case with the God’s originally “chosen” people—those with whom God made a covenant in which He promises them the Kingdom and the King. To these Jewish individuals, God FIRST extended His invitations to salvation, eternal life, and the promise of participating in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, but they rejected God’s invitations. For sure, there will be many people (Jews and Gentiles) who will reject God’s salvation and eternal life invitations. Likewise, there will be many people (Jews and Gentiles) who will fail to meet His FAITH requirements. Unfortunately, both the people who refuse God’s invitations and the people who fail to meet His FAITH requirements will end up having the banquet hall door shut in their faces.

Once again, the moral of the parable is seen through the King’s (God’s) repeated invitations. For example, in the Wedding Banquet parable, when His invitation to the so-called cream of the crop is refused by them, the King (God) sends His messengers/servants out to find and then invite the world’s outcasts—the world’s lowly and overlooked—because, ironically, they will be more inclined to acknowledge the King’s (God’s) sovereignty and His reign by not only humbly accepting His invitation but also by doing what He expects them to do to prepare for the event, which means they will put on the proper attire—wedding clothing—holiness and righteousness, as provided by the King/God.

This above example pertains to us. We who believe in and have accepted Jesus the Christ as our personal Lord and Savior have been invited by God (the certain King) to be the Bride/lowly guests who get to eat at Jesus the Christ’s (the Son’s) Wedding Table. God initially invites the Jewish people with whom He has established several covenants. However, after they not only refuse His invitations but also murder His messengers/servants (both the prophets/servants of the Old Testament and the prophets/servants of the New Testament (e.g., the Lord’s disciples, as well as The Prophet Himself who is Jesus the Christ), God then invites us to become the true Bride of Christ (ekklesia or the CHURCH). We, thus, are the participants in the future Marriage Supper of the Lord, who are represented in the Wedding Banquet Parable as the “few” who graciously accept the King’s invitation in a timely manner, those who recognize God’s Marriage Supper of the Lamb preparations—the calling, inviting, evangelizing discipling, and warning—and, thus, those who come to His feast wearing the proper attire (their wedding garment). These are the “chosen few” of the “many called” who are worthy to be seated at the Lord’s Table! Therefore, a word to the wise should be sufficient.

For more details, read my “What Will Your RSVP Be To The King’s Invitation?” blog entry.

It Is Quite Possible For Us To Misuse Our Spiritual Gifts

16 Monday Nov 2009

Posted by in Bible Study

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We are living in a time when it is obvious that many of the people who should be respected for their integrity and sincerity often are criticized for not having any integrity at all, and they are criticized too for not being serious enough! Perhaps these condemnations are why it is increasingly harder for us to place our total trust in our teachers or professors, lawyers, doctors, police officers, firefighters, military personnel, government officials, journalists, and our ministers and Christian friends.

Where today’s institutional “church” is concerned, too many of the Christians who function as the spiritual/religious leaders who also teach the Word of God are the people who frequently are criticized for their lack of integrity (character/honesty) and sincerity. It is apparent that the apostle Paul must have seen this lack of integrity and sincerity in the first-century “church,” because in Titus 2:7 he warns those who teach the Word of God this way: “And you yourself must be an example to them by doing good works of every kind. Let everything you do reflect the integrity and seriousness of your teaching” (NLT).

In spite of this warning, there are 21st century Christian spiritual/religious leaders, functioning as Bible teachers, who speak ungodly thoughts and do ungodly acts, and many of these Christian spiritual/religious leaders often use this disclaimer: “The Lord knows my heart.” To them, this disclaimer is supposed to imply that they are not responsible for any bad outcomes, because they only had “good intentions” in mind, despite the fact that their words and/or actions resulted in something contrary to “good works.” The truth is that even though these Christian spiritual/religious leaders claim to be moral and/or religious people, their character and earnestness often prove them to be otherwise.

Furthermore, just like we know that there are Christian believers who speak ungodly thoughts and do ungodly acts, we also know that there are unbelievers who say these words: “Jesus is Lord.” Since there are many moral and/or religious unbelievers who sincerely say that they believe Jesus is Lord, then what makes them unbelievers is something other than their character and sincerity. For sure, Jesus the Christ declares that there will be MANY who call Him Lord, Lord who will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but He does not use their lack of character and sincerity as the reasons why. The Lord, however, does tactfully reference their obedience, desires, and determination, for it is their obedience to God’s Word and their godly desires (righteous motives) and determination to do the Will of the Father that cause our Lord to recognize those moral and spiritual individuals who get to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (cf. Matthew 7:21-23).

Thus, whether or not a 1st or 21st-century person is a born-again believer or a devoted unbeliever, this much is true: A distorted point of view of what it means to be spiritual is not new.  Moreover, our trusted “spiritual/religious leaders” are guilty of teaching their distorted perspective to many people, and their skewed  point of view has done more to hinder these individuals’ spiritual growth than to facilitate it.

From the time of the Scribes and Pharisees, when our Lord preached and taught, until our time of televised spiritual/religious leaders, spirituality continues to be measured by external appearances rather than by the motives of the human heart. In His day, by teaching the Scribes and the Pharisees that spirituality goes beyond the letter of the Law (that spirituality reaches into the spirit of the matter; see Matthew 23:23 and Luke 11:42), our Lord turned the Jewish religious leaders’ definition of spirituality inside out and the Jewish religious system upside down.

Knowing that we would have spiritual/religious leaders who would not agree on what spirituality really means is probably why God not only has Jesus the Christ’s Sermon on the Mount preachings and teachings included in the Holy Bible but also why He inspired the apostle Paul to teach the Corinthians about spirituality, as spirituality pertains to having and using spiritual gifts (those spiritual ‘things’ that come from the spirit realm of the Holy Spirit).

In 1 Corinthians 12:1-3, the apostle writes:

Now, dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don’t want you to misunderstand this. You know that when you were still pagans, you were led astray and swept along in worshiping speechless idols. So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. (NLT)

From these verses we understand that the apostle Paul believes there are two kinds of spirituality: (1) False Spirituality that comes into our spiritually dead, unclean spirits by way of Satan’s deceptive and demonic spirits, and these deceptive and demonic spirits are those that lead us astray—lead us away from worshipping a living, speaking God to worshipping speechless idols; and (2) True Spirituality that comes into our born again, saved, righteous spirits by way of God’s truthful and Divine Holy Spirit, and God’s truthful and Divine Holy Spirit is the One who leads us toward God and toward an intimate relationship with a living, speaking God, instead of away from Him.

For sure, the Scriptures make it clear that true spirituality involves using our Holy Spirit given spiritual gifts, power, and authority to glorify God by the love that we show to Him and to our fellow human beings, by the camaraderie, unity (harmony), and shared goals we have with one another, by the fulfillment of our evangelistic and discipleship responsibilities, and by the sacrificial, unselfish lives that we live that are pleasing to God and our Lord, Jesus the Christ. However, as mentioned earlier, spiritual/religious leaders distort this definition of spirituality. Indeed, when spiritual/religious leaders teach that a benchmark of superior spirituality is the spiritual gifts people not only have but also use, then they have distorted the definition of what God means by spirituality. For these church and ministry leaders, any believer who does not have, or does not use, any of the spiritual gifts, specifically those listed in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, this believer has an inferior spirituality. Moreover, any person who is thought to have an inferior spirituality cannot be a pastor, trustee, deacon, Sunday School teacher, choir member, and so forth, in these spiritual/religious leaders’ churches and/or ministries.

Without a doubt, their superior/inferior spirituality is nothing more than the Scribes and Pharisees’ old external appearance standard that Jesus the Christ teaches is wrong to use, especially when this standard is used to judge a person’s spirituality (cf. Matthew 23:25-26; Luke 11:38-40). The truth of the matter is that spiritual gifts are neither the standard for judging spirituality nor the yardstick for measuring the rank/function a believer will have in the institutional church.

Not using spiritual gifts as a way to judge someone’s spirituality is the reason why, for example, when the Corinthians begin to misuse their spiritual gifts, power, and authority in conjunction with creating divisions and cliques, and when they begin to abuse their liberties and begin to allow carnality to outweigh spirituality, the apostle Paul writes his two letters to them to warn them about their superior spirituality attitudes. The apostle makes it clear to these Corinthians that true spirituality DOES NOT motivate people to judge individuals’ functions or importance in the local church or the Body of Christ by the spiritual gifts, power, and authority these individuals have and use. He also makes it clear that true spirituality DOES NOT motivate people to use their spiritual gifts, power, and authority to cause divisions and cliques within the local church or the Body of Christ. Then too, the apostle makes it clear that true spirituality DOES NOT motivate people to pursue personal glory, to promote themselves, or to make themselves prosperous.

This same apostle also gives quite the opposite definition of spirituality than the one that spiritual/religious leaders often have distorted. For the apostle Paul, true spirituality ONLY motivates individuals to use their spiritual gifts, power, and authority sacrificially. He adds that true spirituality motivates people to make sure that “others” receive the help and edification they need, first! Lastly, where spirituality is concerned, the apostle makes it clear that the Corinthian church members who have chosen him as their spiritual leader must know that his actual preaching and teaching demonstrate the power of the Gospel only because he relies on the power of the Holy Spirit!

Therefore, when Apostle Paul says, “So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3, NLT), he is declaring that the Holy Spirit ONLY can influence people to speak the Divine Truth about Jesus the Christ. Thus, if believers say that Jesus is accursed (v. 3a), then it is evident that these believers have misused their spiritual gifts, especially those spiritual gifts that involve speaking a word of wisdom, a word of knowledge, prophesying, speaking in many tongues, and  interpreting tongues (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:8-10)!

As mentioned earlier, just as some unbelievers can speak Gospel truths, like saying, “Jesus is Lord,” believers can speak ungodly thoughts or do ungodly acts. In the Corinthians’ case, the apostle Paul knows that many of the Corinthians he is addressing have done just that—spoken ungodly thoughts and/or done ungodly acts—while claiming to have spirituality. The spirituality that many Corinthians have, however, is representative of their present evil age. From this last statement, we can draw this conclusion: Just like the Corinthians’ Greek wisdom is not Almighty God’s wisdom (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:4-8), the spirituality  that Corinthian church members have claimed after they have said that Jesus is accursed (an anathema) is not from God either (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:3a)!

That is why apostle Paul warns the Corinthians, especially those Corinthians who have the God kind of spirituality, about their need to be careful not to allow themselves to be led astray, once again, by the same deceitful and demonic spirits who, while they were yet unbelievers, led them astray to worship speechless idols. If they let demonic spirits lead them astray this time, now that they have accepted Jesus the Christ as their Savior, they will end up speaking lies about the Lord (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:2-3a).

Since there are some Christian Corinthians who have called the Lord an anathema, the apostle Paul teaches them that only demonic spirits can influence these believers to speak lies about Jesus the Christ. Therefore, if only demonic spirits can influence believers to speak lies about Jesus the Christ, then it must be true that only demonic spirits can influence believers to do evil deeds.

On the other hand, God’s Holy Spirit influences believers to view their spirituality, spiritual gifts, power, and authority in light of the Cross so that they will come to understand the reasons why God has allowed His Holy Spirit to give believers these special abilities. Believers are given their spiritual gifts, power, and authority so that they might perform good deeds that glorify the Father, as well as meet the needs of others, and so that they might speak about and interpret the spiritual (deeper things) of God according to that which the Holy Spirit gives to them to say. In other words, the Holy Spirit is the One who influences believers to use their spiritual gifts, power, and authority with integrity and sincerity, according to the degree that the Holy Spirit works in them (cf. Ephesians 3:16-20).

Knowing, however, that believers often will display improper Christian ethical behaviors (that they might say ungodly things and do ungodly acts) is why the apostle John tells believers that they must try EVERY spirit so that they might know which spirit is from God and which spirit is from the Devil (cf. 1 John 4:1). Since this battle between good and evil involves whether or not believers are able to discern, spiritually speaking, which spirit is influencing their thoughts and actions, then this battle definitely is NOT just in their minds!

Contrary to what some of the most renowned televised apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers are preaching, teaching, or writing about that concerns the battle against good and evil being in the minds of believers, God and the Devil are not just battling for control of their minds but rather for control of their souls! Since the heart is the center of all spiritual activities in each human being, the heart consists of the soul, mind, will (determination), desires, intellect, conscience, feelings, and emotions; in essence, everything that contributes to each individual’s unique personality. For this reason, it shouldn’t be hard to comprehend why both God and the Devil are battling for the control of EVERYTHING that makes mankind a living soul!

For sure, because the Holy Spirit is the One who is the breath of life in us, then we need to know what are His other functions. One of the Holy Spirit’s functions in this world is to glorify Jesus the Christ by revealing His majesty and glory, which are written about in God’s Word. Other Holy Spirit functions are for Him to reveal all of God’s Divine Truths and “deeper things”; for Him to convict people of their sins; for Him to influence people to accept Jesus the Christ as Lord and Savior; for Him to fill believers with passion, power, and authority; for Him to endow believers with spiritual gifts; and for Him to produce in believers a Christ-centered life. While fulfilling His earthly assignments, the Holy Spirit ONLY can proclaim and bear witness to Jesus the Christ’s Lordship, and He does so because God sent the Holy Spirit to us: (1) to enable us to see Jesus the Christ’s glory, majesty, power, and authority so that we will decide to submit to God’s Will and to Jesus the Christ’s Lordship; and (2) to enable us to see Jesus the Christ’s purity and righteousness so that we will pattern our lives after our Lord and Savior’s life.

Therefore, God’s love and grace provide the Holy Spirit for us so that He will be the ONLY One who not only influences our dead spirits to receive by faith the preached Word pertaining to our need to be born again, but also so that He will be the ONLY One who influences our regenerated spirits to confess and repent ours sins, and the ONLY One who influences our regenerated spirits to accept Jesus the Christ as our Lord and Savior. Likewise, when Jesus the Christ returns to this Earth, the Holy Spirit will be the ONLY One who convicts EVERY tongue to confess that Jesus the Christ is Lord, even though many who confess this Divine Truth at that time will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven (cf. Matthew 7:21-23)!

The apostle John also says:

And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God (1 John 4:13-15, NLT).

This same apostle also says that if we say that we love God but hate some of our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, then we are liars, because we cannot say that we love God, whom we cannot see, and with the same mouth say that we hate some of our fellow Christians! This voiced hatred is a clear contradiction of God’s Word. God commands those of us who say that we love Him to love our Christian sisters and brothers (cf. 1 John 4:20-21).

In some other Scriptures, the apostle John declares:

So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:6-7, NLT).

Similarly, the apostle Paul tells the “spiritual” Corinthians that, when the Holy Spirit speaks through them, He ONLY can give them Divine Truths to speak. Therefore, if there are “spiritual” Corinthians using their spiritual gifts (their word of wisdom, word of knowledge, different languages, discernment of spirits, prophecy, interpretation of languages, and so forth) to curse Jesus the Christ (to say that our Lord is an anathema; to claim that He is cursed or damned, and, thus, cannot be redeemed), and then they support what they claim by declaring that the Holy Spirit gave them what to say, then these people are liars!

So when the apostle Paul makes it clear that the Holy Spirit could NEVER say that Jesus the Christ is an anathema, he is both calling these “spiritual” Christians a liar and correcting these liars. In essence, the apostle is declaring that God’s Holy Spirit could NEVER lie on or about Jesus the Christ by leading believers to say that Jesus the Christ is an anathema, because to do so would mean that the Holy Spirit is calling God the Father a liar. Certainly, there are Scriptures that tell us that God neither is like humans who tell lies, nor like humans who change their minds (for example, see Numbers 23:19).

Now, while there are some 21st-century Christians who believe that a person cannot be spiritual (have spirituality, spiritual gifts, power, and authority) and speak lies against Jesus the Christ, this belief is not biblically sound. The Corinthian believers in apostle Paul’s day are proof that believers can have true spirituality yet lack the proper discipline that keeps their sinful habits in check.

According to apostle Paul, these Corinthian believers are spiritual, for they have received the Holy Spirit who has revealed to them some spiritual truths that ONLY the God kind of spiritual people can understand (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:12-14), but because they were very immature, spiritually speaking, they were living in such a way that they demonstrated a depressing deficiency in their spiritual perspective.  As a consequence, since they had not grown to the level of spirituality that the apostle Paul believed they should have been, the apostle says that he only could talk to them like they were babies (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:1-3).

This child-like level of true spirituality is where many of us today live, move, and have our being. That is why spiritually mature Christians constantly must remind themselves that NOBODY becomes morally perfect at the moment he or she becomes saved. Moreover, spiritually mature believers must remind themselves that every believer will not take the same amount of time to reach a mature level of spirituality. Spiritually mature believers also must keep in mind that the Scriptures warn them that in the last days, even God’s very elect (His chosen; those who have received salvation) can be deceived and end up turning away from their faith (cf. Matthew 24:24). These truths are why the Christians who have true spirituality must be careful not to allow themselves to be influenced by demonic forces whose goal not only is to lead these believers to say and/or do things that are ungodly but also their goal is to get believers to think about their sin-guilt and then feel so guilty about their sins that they turn away from the Gospel’s Truth!

For sure, until we are glorified, we will continue to do and say things that neither glorify nor please God. However, when we know who we are in Jesus the Christ (know that our identity has changed and that we are justified, are declared righteous in the eyes of God), then we also will respond immediately to the Holy Spirit, who not only disciplines us but also teaches us how to correct our sinful and morally unethical behaviors.

In other words, we believers still sin; however,  we DO NOT practice sinning. This last statement means that although we still can sin, after we have been saved, we cannot make a habit of sinning, like the Devil does, and like we did when we were unregenerate and unsaved sinners, because Christ Jesus helps us in Heaven as our advocate, and because the Holy Spirit in us disciplines us and influences our immediate repentance of the sins we have committed (cf. 1 John 1:8-10;  2:1-2; 3:8-9; and 5:18). Furthermore, even though we still sin, we ARE spiritual and have the God kind of spirituality, simply because we have the Holy Spirit in us. This last statement also is true of the spiritual Corinthians. They too have true spirituality because they have the Holy Spirit in them.  The Holy Spirit, thus, not only is inside ALL of us who believe in Jesus the Christ so that He can convict us of our sins, but also He is inside us so that He can help us by teaching us how to grow up, spiritually speaking!

Then too, there are other modern-day Christians who believe that God’s Holy Spirit ONLY speaks through born again, saved Christians.  However, this belief is not biblically sound, either. The apostle Paul also uses the Corinthian church members to confirm to these Corinthians, and to today’s believers, that it is possible for God’s Spirit to give believers and unbelievers the ability to confess that Jesus as Lord (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:3b). Indeed, we who are now saved are nothing more than sinners ho have been saved by God’s grace through our faith in Jesus the Christ, which the mighty workings of the HOLY SPIRIT make possible, starting when He, while we are still habitual sinners, first convinces us that we need to be born again, and continuing His influence until we are reconciled and restored back to our right standing in God (cf. Romans 5:8-11). After we are justified, it is through the Holy Spirit’s progressive sanctification, the process of taking us from one level of glory to the next level of glory, we ultimately receive our glorified bodies (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:18)!

The point that we must not forget, however, is that demonic spirits can influence believers as well as unbelievers!  This truth is why the apostles Paul and John warn us to be careful about which spirit(s) we are allowing to influence us. If the Holy Spirit is not influencing and leading us, then it is Satan’s demonic spirits who are influencing and leading us. The battle is indeed not with flesh and blood beings, but rather with those spirits who exist in the spirit realm (cf.  Ephesians 6:12), which is why, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, we must pull down every wicked imagination that raises its ugly head up against the Divine knowledge about God and Jesus the Christ (cf. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

When all is said and done, we must use our spirituality, spiritual gifts, power, and authority ONLY to reflect the Divine Truth about God’s Divine Light, instead of using  our spiritual abilities to spread Satan’s lies about this world’s darkness! Therefore, just like the Corinthian church members are not being led by God’s Holy Spirit to use their spiritual gifts of discernment, prophecy, wise advice (word of wisdom), special knowledge (word of knowledge), and so forth, when they call our Lord an anathema, today’s believers also are NOT being led by the Holy Spirit when they use their spiritual gifts to speak this same lie! Both the 1st century and 21st-century believers, the ones who use their spiritual gifts to spread lies about Jesus the Christ, are misusing their spiritual gifts.

Thankfully, God allows the Holy Spirit to speak through today’s willing and obedient spiritual leaders who are eager to teach us about the kinds of spiritual abuses that were happening in the Corinthian church, and are still going on in today’s churches. Spiritual leaders like these are the believers  who, having the God kind of righteous motives, are doing the Will of Father God who wants them, and us, to live and walk in the Holy Spirit  24/7 (cf. Galatians 5:25-26).

Believers’ true spirituality, spiritual gifts, power, and authority are the works of the Holy Spirit, and these works are supernatural because they come from God who lives in the spirit realm. However, false spirituality also involves the spirit realm, but it is that realm where Satan lives!

At the end of each day, the difference between true and false spirituality, then, will be in knowing which spirit is leading us—the difference between true and false spirituality will be in knowing whether we are being led by the Holy Spirit of God, or whether we are being led by Satan’s demonic spirits! This knowledge also will help us to resolve our problems with dishonesty and hypocrisy, which we display every time we teach distorted views of God’s Truths, and every time we misuse the spiritual gifts God has given to us through His Holy Spirit.

Also, please read my post: Are Spiritual Gifts Still Misunderstood?