In the last post, we looked at a Spirit-led meeting in the first-century church. It’s important that as we talk about the subject that we are clear about what we’re talking about. Most people believe that the Holy Spirit is leading believers when they gather, no matter what happens. My goal is not to comment on whether the Holy Spirit is leading every gathering of believers. But when I look at Scripture, meetings that are led by the Holy Spirit are much different than most church gatherings, I have been a part of. But it is important to understand what Scripture says about Spirit-led gatherings so that we can pursue that reality wherever we are.
Part of the difficulty in describing Spirit-led meetings is that no one gathering is the same. That is part of their joy. The Holy Spirit has different goals and agendas in each gathering of believers. But there are a couple of key elements that are usually present:
Spirit-led meetings are led by the Holy Spirit. This should almost go without mention, but most Christians I know believe that the Holy Spirit leads their leader who leads the meetings. In reality, this frequently ends up being a meeting led by some kind of senior leader: a pastor, a bishop, an elder, etc. Spirit-led meetings are not led by one person who is led by the Spirit. They are actually led by the Holy Spirit as He leads multiple individuals in a church to participate in the gathering.
Spirit-led meetings are participatory. Because the Holy Spirit dwells inside of each truly born-again believer, Spirit-led meetings are participatory. Paul describes this reality of believers gathering together in 1 Corinthians 14:26: “What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation,”(emphasis mine). The reality is each believer brings to a meeting of believers a piece of what God is doing for the whole church to be built up.
Spirit-led meetings are governed by love. Love for other believers should be the goal of every Spirit-led meeting. Scripture is clear that the reason we gather is to provoke one another to follow Jesus more fully. We gather together with other believers for their sake, not for ours. This requires us to lay down our lives for the building up of others. That’s why in the middle of correcting the Corinthians for their out of control meetings (1 Corinthians 12-14) Paul spends a whole chapter talking about the critical importance of love instead of just giving a giant list of instructions. If we gather as believers to follow the Holy Spirit and we practically demonstrate love to our brothers, everyone present will be built up by Jesus. The result will be a more whole and mature body of Christ.
Spirit-led meetings edify the body. God has actually designed the body of Christ so that it builds itself up in love. Part of the way you know you’ve been part of a meeting led by the Holy Spirit is that the individual members of the body are built up by the Holy Spirit through other individual members of the body. This does not mean that everyone teaches in the meeting or even that everything goes as planned, the diversity of ways God accomplishes this will boggle your mind. But God does it and He uses the simplest among us to do it when we are following His Spirit.
Spirit-led meetings demonstrate the gifts of the Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is allowed to lead a meeting, He manifests Himself through the gifts He has given each believer present. In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul describes a number of unique gifts that God manifests when believers gather: words of wisdom, words of knowledge, faith, healing, working of miracles, tongues, interpretation of tongues, prophecy, and discerning of spirits. These gifts (and probably others) are the ways God acts when He desires to build up His church through others.
We’ll talk a bit more about current Spirit-led gatherings in a future post. But for now, what elements of Spirit-led gatherings have you seen when your church gathers? What parts are you missing? Have you ever seen all of these elements in one gathering? Tell us about it in the comment section.
Part one of this series is Spirit Led Gatherings: Have You Met With Christians Like This?
Part three of this series is Spirit Led Gatherings: Part Three Fleshing It Out
Photo Credit: dove-object-black2 by knowhimonline
Travis
ReplyDeleteId like to expand on your well articulated point.
As I found out early in my walk with God, one cant truly be Spirit led in a meeting if they are not Spirit led at all other times.There is no such thing as part time Spirit led, because by default, that means one is led by the flesh at other times.
The bible is pretty clear as to the fruit of both kinds of leadings. The fruit of the Spirit vs the works of the flesh are so diametrically opposed in nature and outcome that we can only produce one or the other of these two fruits.
I would argue that a Spirit led christian will produce the fruit of the Spirit,which is the presence and testimony of Jesus indwelling that person. In contrast, a fleshly, self loving christian may appear to possess Spiritual attributes, leading or wisdom etc but in fact, a corrupt tree cannot bear divine fruit. In or out of meetings, Spirit led christians are a threat to the kingdom of darkness, a light set on a hill for seekers and a thorn in the side of any believer that doesnt walk in obedience to God.
Gal 4:29
If all the Christians in any given locale could sort out this confusion of terms, and begin to walk in obedience to Gods Word and Spirit,we might see true Spirit led lives being lived.
Until then, the kingdom of darkness will continue to do its work among our neighbors and more subtly, in our churches.
blessings
Greg
Greg
DeleteThanks for your comment and I totally agree. If we get into a segmented lifestyle where we act one way ("led by the Spirit") in a meeting but act another way every where else, then it's really a pointless venture.
I thought about doing another post or two in this series just to elaborate more on that fact. I think many people from a different background would see this as a lifestyle to copy just when we're "in a meeting." The goal, just like you said, is that this becomes a way of life. Thanks for the great comment.
Travis,
DeleteI really appreciate the clear and simple way in which you explained Spirit led gatherings in your article. To answer your question, yes, I have seen all of these elements in one gathering and in fact on a regular basis in a women’s [in home] group that I was privileged to be part of for four wonderful years. What we learned from the Holy Spirit during that season of our lives continues to have an incredible impact on each of us today.
There was one thing in particular that the Spirit shared with us however that I feel is noteworthy to share with you. Early on in the formation of the group he spoke this to us: If we would agree to lay aside our personal agendas each week and receive God’s agenda then he would do great and mighty things among us. We all agreed to do the former in order to experience the latter. True to his word, the Holy Spirit did not disappoint us!
Time and space doesn’t permit me to share all the awesome things that the Holy Spirit did during this time but suffice it to say that no two meetings were alike and he most certainly kept his promise to us! Did we make mistakes and have problems? Of course but we also learned to rely on the Spirit to help us to forgive one another and overcome any problems we encountered. Our love for God and one another was the glue that held us all together and helped us to have great success.
I also appreciated Greg Gamble’s comment- “one can’t truly be Spirit led in a meeting if they are not Spirit led at all other times”. I would like to build upon that if I may. Being led by the Spirit first begins with giving him the reverence and honor due him as God –both in our personal lives and gatherings. There’s a lack of presence and leading in many Churches today due to either ignorance of the person and work of the Spirit or opposition to him through the flesh. However, both of these can be remedied if we humble ourselves before the Lord and receive the divine help of the Holy Spirit into our lives. When we come to honor the Spirit as we should, he will also honor us with his presence and power. As we learn to cultivate a greater sensitivity to him, he will be able to take us further into the spiritual depths of God. Such sensitivity is cultivated through our personal relationship with him. We can have personal fellowship with the Spirit just as we can with the Father and Jesus. (II Corinthians 13:14, I John 1:3)
God bless,
Denise Bostic
Truth and Spirit Ministries
If Travis twist my arm a little I will let him do another post or two. I think he has great wisdom to share.
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