This Sunday we continue our Series, Exploring our St Luke’s Values:
4. We value the Spirit’s empowering presence
We are all indwelt by the Spirit
After Christ ascended to the right hand of the Father, he poured out the Spirit of God upon God’s new people. Now all who turn to Christ, putting their trust in him, are also indwelt by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit births in the people of God new desires to love and serve Christ, rather than live for self. These new desires are stronger that our old selfish desires. While we may struggle and give in to temptation, we expect the overall trajectory of the Christian life to be one of growth, as our new desires hold greater and greater sway.
We are all gifted to serve
The Spirit of God gifts every believer with at least one spiritual gift. These gifts are given for the upbuilding of the worshipping community and the pursuit of the St Luke’s Vision. We also encourage our members to find ways of using their gifts to contribute to the wider witness and mission of the body of Christ in the City of Frankston and beyond. At St Luke’s we accept all the spiritual gifts mentioned in the Bible: from prophecy and healing to the gifts of service and mercy.
Reflection Questions
1. God will stop at nothing to preserve our love bond with him. In the new relationship we have with God in Christ, he deals with the main obstacle to that relationship- the hardness of the human heart.
Read Jeremiah 31.31-34 and Ezekiel 36.24-38. What did the LORD promise to do the preserve his people’s relationship with him?
2. Consider this reflection from great Christian thinker, C.S. Lewis:
“…His love must, in the nature of things, be impeded and repelled by certain stains in our present character…because he already loves us He must labour to make us lovable.”
(From: The Problem of Pain).
If God did not seek to perfect his people, by the power of the Spirit transforming our hearts, what would that say about his love?
3. Read John 3.5-8, a passage that forms part of Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus. In what ways will the promised Spirit change God’s new people?
4. In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul interrupts his discussion on spiritual gifts in the life of the church to discuss the virtue of love: ‘And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love’ (1 Cor 13.13). From Paul’s perspective, love must be: the motive; character; and consequence of the practice of spiritual gifts. And so we find the Spirit gives us the new desire to love that we need, and then adds gifts to use in that love, for the upbuilding of the body of Christ (1 Cor 12.7).
You might like to read 1 Cor 12.8-10, and 28-30. And/or Ephesians 4.11-12, Romans 12.6-8 & 1 Peter 4.10-11. These are the lists of spiritual gifts in the New Testament.
Your challenge this week is to find a Christian friend who knows you, and ask: in what way is my service to others helpful? In what way do I seem to easily contribute to the common good? By asking this question of them, you may begin to discern your gifts.