Paul was clearly encouraging Timothy to not walk in fear when it came to exercising the gift of God inside of him - this may either be in reference to him preaching, serving, healing, faith, prophesy etc (of course this does also refer to the fruit of the Holy Spirit). It seems to me that often today many of us tend to believe this is a mandate only for the few who we perceive are called to operate in such capacity especially in a gathering of saints.
Well, in the case of Timothy, his ordination by Paul was not something common to all other believers. Paul had not gone around to everyone else and laid his hands on them in confirmation of their calling by God into the role of a bishop. Paul's words to Timothy that you reference were, therefore, not a general mandate to all believers. I don't think, then, that all other believers should take Paul's words to Timothy concerning his ordination as applying directly to themselves, too. Yes, there are principles of truth in Paul's comments that we all can take hold of, but we should not all expect to have the role, or ministry, or apostolically-conferred authority of Timothy.
However, my concern is that during a typical church service we often expect only the pastor to function with the gift of the Holy Spirit whilst many of us sit and watch. Rightly as you said it would be disrespectful to override any pastor in a service without his permission and the God-given authority that goes with it. However again this is where I believe there is a call for balance of scripture as my question would be is it the pastor's permission we should seek or God's?
The hierarchy of spiritual authority God established within the Church is very clear (
1Ti. 3.; Eph. 4:11; 1Thess. 5:12, 13) Trying to use the "leading of God" as an end-run around the biblical authority of His under-shepherd, is to defy the objective and explicit teaching of Scripture in favour of your individual and subjective claim of divine leading. This is a recipe for disaster. It will cause division and conflict in the church.
And is authority of exercising ones gifts in a gathering such as a church service granted only to a pastor of that congregation or to every and anybody God wishes to use?
See above.
For instance lets consider in the book of Acts, clearly the spirit fell on all who were at the upper room (Acts 2:41-42) and not just the 11 Apostles present at the time and although Peter was ordained to lead we could see that there were the other Apostles each uniquely ordained and given just as much authority.
Like every other believer, you are indwelt by God's Spirit, but this does not negate the established hierarchy of spiritual authority established in Scripture.
Today it seems only Pastors are ordained to lead and have the so called 'God given authority' whilst everyone else are relegated to mere 'follower' or even seat warmer status.
There is nothing "so called" about the explicit, biblical teaching of the spiritual authority of church pastors and elders. Their authority does not
prohibit your exercise of the spiritual gift God has given you, but it does
constrain and order your exercise of it. You can see something of this authority exercised by Paul over the use of spiritual gifts in the Corinthian church. He sets very clear guidelines (
1Cor. 14) within which spiritual gifts were to be expressed when the Corinthian believers met together. And this is the same guiding and constraining authority a pastor/bishop/elder holds today within the church.
Again maturity and growth in the Lord seemed to be a long winded process when the bible clearly shows us otherwise. Take Paul for instance his was a instant transformation and with just a year he had grown to a point whereby the Apostles recognised he was just as ordained and with as much authority as they.
You are mistaken here. After his Damascus Road experience, it was some
seventeen years before Paul was given the "right hand of fellowship" by the apostles in Jerusalem. (See
Ga. 1:15 - 2:9 especially
1:18 and
2:1)
In fact Paul even rebuked Peter at one point (
Galatians 2:11-21) to show that however much a leader Peter was he too was a man under authority and accountable to his fellow believers whether old or new in the faith as Paul was.
Paul did not rebuke Peter as a show of authority. That isn't what the text says. Paul's concern was not
authority but the right treatment of Gentile believers by Jewish ones and the
hypocrisy of Peter that had influenced others to similar hypocrisy.
Galatians 2:11-13
11 Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed;
12 for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.
13 And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.
Be very careful, brother, that you do not fan into flame a spirit of rebellion toward the God-ordained spiritual authorities of the Church. Your misreading of Scripture here suggests a dangerous bent in that direction.
God desires to transform each of us rather than put on a show.
Which is the greater miracle? The transformation of a wicked man into a wise and holy saint of God? Or incoherent babbling? Which is easier to counterfeit? A pure, self-sacrificing and Christ-centered life? Or making prophetic proclamations? God's "show" is making rebellious sinners into righteous, loving, holy disciples of Jesus. I can think of no more miraculous a thing God could do than that. And yet, so many believers are running after lesser, more superficial, but more immediately stimulating and emotional "experiences" of God. No wonder, then, that the evangelical church in North America is sliding into heresy and apostasy.
I speak not of God putting on a show I speak like you that God transforms each of us and that we pursue growth in developing the fruits of the holy Spirit so that as Jesus said our love for one another may draw the lost to repentance and salvation in the Lord (
John 13:35).
AMEN AND AMEN!
This is where as Paul speaks we need to stir up the gift of God in each of us for the edification of the body of Christ and one to another. Rather than negate this to only be a command or responsibility of just Pastors or those called and ordained.
I agree. But doing this does not require circumventing the authority of your pastor. Work with him, under his direction, to stir up love and holiness in your brothers and sisters in Christ.
Selah.
