Today, we come to third part of our series on “Biblical Paradoxes”…
Church…
“…Be innocent babies when it comes to planning evil, but be men of intelligence in understanding matters of this kind.” (1 Cor 14:20 (22)
Oh yes, there has to be awe and spontaneity in worshipping the Almighty, but all in the name of exercising diverse gifts of the Holy Spirit in worshipping the Creator, there was virtual bedlam in the Corinthian Church. So the Apostle Paul gets down to some serious business of instilling order in their worship. All of the 14th Chapter in his first epistle to the Corinthian Church is devoted to worshipping the God of order (1 Cor 14:33) in an orderly way. The above-captioned paradoxical Scripture is the punch line to his argument of maintaining order in a Church service.
By the way Church leader, is there order in your Church service? Needless to say, striking the balance between spontaneity and systematic sequence in the order of service is the key to effective worship.
Charity…
“One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.” (Proverbs 11:24)
Now how is this possible? One steeped in human rationale may ask for in the worldly realm, the more you save, the greater your savings, the fatter your bank balance and so on and so forth? Let me herald the fact that impossible is possible only with God (Matt 19:26). Now hear this testimony from the horse’s mouth (Yours truly): When I was about to quit a lucrative, highly-paid job to take up full-time spiritual ministry in answer to the Master’s call ten years ago, several questions popped up in my mind with regard to my future charity. I was also supporting some Christian ministries financially when I was holding a job. Would or could I continue doing the same being a full-timer also was a question which creased my forehead before I took that “leap of faith”? Truth to tell, by His Grace and empowerment alone, my financial support to Christian ministries increased much more after coming into Full-time Ministry. Why? Did I solicit funds and get them? Never! The Lord provides faithfully by “stirring up the hearts of men” (Exodus 35:21–the cornerstone verse of George Muller’s peerless orphanage ministry). Oh yes, a Christian’s Bank balance at the end of the day may not be “overflowing”, but his spirit will become richer with time, even as his “Heavenly Bank account” will be swelling (Matt 6:19-20). In Ministry, the golden rule is: “If you run after Jesus, all the needed resources come ‘chasing’ you.” But tragically, if one runs after money, he would eventually find himself stranded “high and dry” (1 Tim 6:9). Shipwrecked…ah that’s the word!
When it comes to Charity, we can be either like clean waters of a “flowing river” or like that of a dirty, stagnant pond…perfect hoarders…opps sorry, I mean perfect haven for mosquito breeding (sic).
Prayer: Father, transform us into Your channels of blessing to the World, so that watching crowds would discern Your love flowing through us into them. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Suresh Manoharan
J and SM Ministries
(To access the entire “Biblical Paradoxes” mini-series, please click here.)