The Spirit comes to us as an earnest, a pledge, a down payment on final redemption. He is here and now the foretaste of future glory. But His presence is also an indication of the incompleteness of our present spiritual experience.

How do we distinguish the promptings of the Spirit of grace in His guiding and governing of our lives from the delusions of the spirit of the world and of our own sinful heart? This is a hugely important question if we are to be calm and confident that the spirit with whom we are communing really is the Holy Spirit.
John Owen suggests four ways in which the Spirit and the serpent are to be distinguished.
1. The leading of the Spirit is regular.
The leading of the Spirit, he says, is regular, that is, according to the regulum: the rule of Scripture. The Spirit does not work in us to give us a new rule of life, but to help us understand and apply the rule contained in Scripture. Thus, the fundamental question to ask about any guidance will be: Is this course of action consistent with the Word of God?
2. The commands of the Spirit are not grievous.
They are in harmony with the Word, and the Word is in harmony with the believer as new creation. The Christian believer consciously submitted to the Word will find pleasure in obeying that Word, even if the Lord’s way for us is marked by struggle, pain, and sorrow. Christ’s yoke fits well; His burden never crushes the spirit (Matt. 11:28-30).
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Written by Gabriel N.E. Fluhrer |
Monday, November 6, 2023
The Bible is not a textbook of science, math, physics, or art. However, it gives us the only worldview that ultimately makes all those things possible. In other words, the Bible not only teaches us ultimate truths about man, the world, salvation, the future, and a host of other subjects that make up a worldview, it also gives us the very principles by which we can know what’s true. One more caveat. We will never believe the Bible is true unless we are born again.

“How can I know what’s true?” It seems like a simple question. But with the advent of social media, “fake news,” and a multitude of competing voices, it can be hard to discern the truth. But there is good news. The Bible tells us that we can and must know what’s true.
Looking to the Scriptures, theologians have discerned two different ways we can know what’s true. First, we know what’s true through general revelation. This term refers to what God has revealed in His world and in us (Gen. 1:1, 28; Ps. 19:1–6; Ps. 139:13–14; Rom. 1:18–21). Interestingly, this conviction about general revelation led to the scientific revolution. Biblical Christianity provided a worldview that encouraged mankind to investigate the world around us with the firm assurance that because the God who made it and upheld it is true, we could discover what’s true.
But we do not learn what’s true just from investigating the world around us. We also learn the truth by using our minds. This is another aspect of general revelation. Since man is made in God’s image, we can, as one theologian put it, think His thoughts after Him. So, we use the laws of logic, mathematical laws, laws of physics, and so on to discover truth.
Second, we know what’s true through special revelation (Ps. 19:7–11; Isa. 8:20; John 17:17; 2 Tim. 3:16). This refers to the way in which God has revealed Himself in His Word. Of course, God spoke other words to His prophets and Apostles that were not recorded in His Word. But the special revelation He wanted us to have, He has preserved for us in the Bible.
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The Disney placemats are set. Then come the purple and green polypropylene plates (try saying that three times fast). There are still hands to wash, bibs to put on, utensils to grab, and sippy cups to search for throughout the house. Oh yeah, and Mom and Dad still need some food, too. But, in due time, the table is finally set, hands are joined, a prayer is said, and we begin.
This is the current daily routine for Hannah and I when dinnertime rolls around. Every day leading up to that hour looks a little different. I sometimes imagine our kids huddling up in the morning to dole out which of them (if not all of them) will be the one to not take a nap, or which one will volunteer as the day’s distinguished Button Pusher.
Despite how the variables of the day have played out, it is this evening rhythm that gets us in the same room, around the same table, to share the same meal. There is something about that tiny window of time between the “Amen” and those first bites of dinner that is sacred, perhaps even sacramental. It’s my favorite part of the meal. In that brief pause, each of us are daily brought back to reality, and reminded of what we cannot afford to forget: we belong to God and to one another.
There is another space of life where you and I get in on this moment. Here, there are no bibs to disperse or placemats to set. But we find ourselves again at a table. His table. We pause, clutching the bread, carefully holding the cup. We confess, we pray, we praise. All around the table, as we take the bread and the cup, we remember and proclaim: we belong to God, and to one another.
Trouble in Corinth
The Church at Corinth needed a wake-up call. Badly. They earned the longest two letters Paul wrote in the New Testament. In his first letter to Corinth, Paul addresses a host of issues: sexual immorality, selfishness, lawsuits against one another, and other divisions in the church. But Paul spends a great deal of time rebuking their treatment of the Lord’s Supper.
Prior to this, it seemed that some from the Corinthian church were eating meals within pagan temples. These temples would make animal sacrifices to false gods but would also be the spot used for hosting various dinner parties and banquets. The people felt it was their “right” to eat wherever they desired; but Paul disagrees. He tells them that it is inappropriate to eat such food in such places, as it seems to be sympathetic toward the world’s idols and could cause a fellow brother or sister in Christ to stumble in their conscience. This contributed to rifts being formed among certain factions of believers in Corinth.
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