The
allowance of flesh in the least degree in a Christian is to grieve the Spirit
of God, by which he has been sealed until the day of redemption (Eph. 4:30).
What a motive to holiness is the fact—true of every believer—that the Holy
Spirit of God dwells in him! He may, alas, grieve Him in many ways. Everything
that has not Christ for its motive and object must grieve God’s Spirit and
hinder our growth and communion.

      To
quench the Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19) is to hinder His free action in the assembly.
While there are special permanent gifts in the Church (Eph. 4:11), there are
also the “joints and bands” (Col. 2:19) that work effectually in the measure of
every part, and by which the body of Christ increases. If they are hindered in
true spiritual service, the Spirit of God is quenched.

      There
are dangers to be avoided on both sides, especially by those who seek to walk
in the truth of the Church of God. On one side the danger is that because there
is liberty for all to “prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be
comforted” (1 Cor. 14:31), there may be the undervaluing of special ministry
which is a permanent thing as long as the Church of God is here. On the other
side there is the danger of quenching the Spirit in the various helps—the
joints and bands by which nourishment is ministered in the body of Christ—by
putting special ministry in the place of the free action of the Holy Spirit in
the members of Christ. Both are to be cherished, and the most spiritual are
those who will value all that God gives.

      We
see in 1 Thess. 5:20,21 that it is ministry that the apostle has in his mind.
While in verse 12 he exhorts them to own those who labor among them and esteem them
highly in love for their work’s sake, in verses 19-21 they were not to quench
the Spirit in any, but at the same time to “prove all things” which were said
and “hold fast that which is good.”

      (From
Scripture Notes and Queries.)