The Reality of the Promise - Evangelical Caucus/Devotional

“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13).

Many people today look for some kind of evidence of reality—science and technology, New Age thought, Eastern religions, various brands of experience-oriented Christianity, or “seeker friendly” mega-church enterprises. But as I have said and written countless times before, Scripture alone points us toward a genuine, secure spiritual reality.

The fulfilled promise of the Holy Spirit’s outpouring is one of the truest indicators of authentic spiritual activity. And 1 Corinthians 12:13 tells us how to recognize that He is truly ministering in our midst. In this verse Paul gives us a near perfect commentary on what occurred so spectacularly at Pentecost and has gone on less visibly ever since—the Spirit placed all believers into the Body of Christ, and all believers now have the same Holy Spirit.

The process of gathering believers into the church is a combined ministry of the Lord Jesus and the Spirit. In using the phrase “by one Spirit” in 1 Corinthians 12:13, Paul is saying that the Holy Spirit was Christ’s agent in making us children of God. That means we don’t need to look to other mystical signs and experiences to verify the Spirit’s activity in ourselves or others. Jesus wants us simply to understand His words in John 7:37-39, “‘If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, “From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.”’ But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive.”

Whenever we see people being saved and then maturing in Christ, we can be certain that the promised Spirit is at work. The reality of the promise is thus a constant reminder of the faithfulness and consistency of a sovereign God who is working to provide us with life’s greatest sense of comfort, joy, and spiritual assurance.

Pray that your local church would maintain the unity of the Spirit and thereby testify to outsiders of His working.

Make a list from Ephesians 3:14-21 of the privileges and benefits believers should know if they are experiencing Christian unity.

Many people today look for some kind of evidence of reality... various brands of experience-oriented Christianity, ...That means we don’t need to look to other mystical signs and experiences to verify the Spirit’s activity in ourselves or others....Whenever we see people being saved and then maturing in Christ, we can be certain that the promised Spirit is at work.

Actually, people being saved and then maturing is evidential, in correspondence to the word of God, while the basic unity of the Spirit is experiential and mystical, that of a spontaneous instant kinship with any person upon meeting and discovering that they also know the Lord. Such as in offering gospel tracts to people and the face of a person lights up and commends you, saying how they were saved etc. Seeing this blow a neighbor of mine away, asking me how I and a female believer could "hit it off" so quickly.

Of course, fruits of the Spirit must accompany salvific faith, but there is a supernatural "fellowship of the Spirit (Philippians 2:1) of those who are born of the Spirit and overall walking therein, having a shared common transformative salvation experience which resulted in profound basic changes in heart and in life. Despite certain issues that we can disagree about or are ignorant of (though there is usually no excuse for such).

Spurgeon does well in describing this basic unity.

But this basic unity of the Spirit is why so many believers of different strains can work together in para church ministries.

In contrast to which are those who defensibly respond to the presentation of the evangelical gospel by saying what denomination the belong to, or seek to evangelize you.

To God be the glory.

Amen, indeed! The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 8:16). I've fellowshipped and worshipped in various church denominations over the years in my travels and felt right at home in many. Diversity works in the family of God, too!

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.