Spiritual Jealousy
I’m currently reading the accounts of Paul’s missionary journeys, starting in Acts 13. I noticed that one of the themes that consistently comes up is spiritual jealousy. It’s pretty clear from these accounts that Paul almost always initiated his missionary efforts in a given city with a visit to the local Jewish congregation, where he proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah. It also appears that most synagogues at that time had a number of Gentiles in their congregations. You can tell that Paul was speaking to these Gentiles as well as the Jews: in Acts 13:16, he says “Men of Israel and you that fear God”. This phrase “you that fear God” refers explicitly to Gentiles who believed in the God of Israel but who had not undergone full conversion.
So here’s the situation: Paul enters a synagogue and preaches the Gospel to both Jews and Gentiles. They clearly receive the Word gladly — they invite him to return the next Sabbath, and a number of the congregants follow Paul and Barnabas after the worship service and encourage them. The following Sabbath, it’s clear that the news has spread: “almost the whole city gathered together to hear the word of God”. This time, the response of the Jews isn’t so positive: “But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy and contradicted what was spoken by Paul…” This negative reaction pursues Paul and Barnabas for the rest of their journey. Jump ahead a few chapters to Paul’s next journey and we see a similar pattern: in Acts 17, the Jews at the local synagogue initially respond positively, then become jealous when non-Jews start coming to faith, and pursue Paul and make trouble for him when he moves on to the next city.
It occurred to me as I was reading that it’s very easy for us to fall into the same trap with regard to the exercise of spiritual gifts. When we witness someone manifesting a spiritual gift, particularly one that we don’t have, we can easily respond negatively. This can especially be the case when (1) you’re a long-time Christian/member of Lamb of God, and (2) the person exercising the gift is relatively new — a recent convert or someone who has recently started worshiping with us. Such spiritual jealousy can promote divisiveness and thoroughly quench the actions of the Spirit in our midst. Rather, we should rejoice in the gift of God to our congregation and the demonstration of His presence in out midst.