ListenDaily - 05 March 2009; Things we think and things we know
Friends, to follow up on yesterday's discussion on the place of speaking in tongues within the body of the church, let us reflect on the next verses from this chapter.
Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
From 1 Corinthians 12 (find this or any other passages at www.Biblegateway.org)
...there should be no division in the body...
Like many of you, I am still working out the meaning and usage of speaking in tongues. I am still seeking clarity, still seeking discernment. The Scriptures are not as clear, to me at least, as I wish they were on this issue.
...there should be no division in the body...
This statement, however, is crystal clear. Certainly there have been, are, and will continue to be divisions in the church...but there should not be! If an issue, speaking in tongues or any other, is causing division, that division is from the flesh of men, or from Satan working through the flesh of men. We must maintain the truth, and be acctountable to it, but never seek to create a division over an issue, especially something that is given as a gift. I am not referring to issues of sin that some would have made acceptable in the church; although even in those, unity should be sought by preaching and teaching the truth.
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Questions:
1. Do you believe in tongues?
2. Do you believe everyone should speak in tongues? No one?
3. Many of you have mentioned divisions caused by this issue, how did that affect your 'church life', then and now?
AN INVITATION!
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INTERESTING THOUGHTS:
"One hundred religious persons knit into a unity by careful organization do not constitute a church
any more than eleven dead men make a football team. The first requisite is life, always."
A.W. Tozer
"Has it ever occurred to you that 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 each one must individually bow.
So one hundred worshippers meeting together, each one looking away 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.
Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified. The body becomes stronger as its members become healthier.
The whole church of God gains when the members that compose it begin to seek a better and a higher life."
A.W. Tozer
"The men who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees.
He who fritters away the early morning, its opportunity and freshness,
in other pursuits than seeking God will make poor headway seeking Him the rest of the day.
If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, He will be in the last place the remainder of the day."
E.M. Bounds
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