Thank you to Mark R for this message

1 Corinthians 12:1-11 and 1 Corinthians 14:1-5

This Sunday we begin to look at Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians on the subject of spiritual gifts.

It’s a 2-part series; this Sunday I’ll be giving a general introduction to the gifts from 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, and next Sunday David will be also looking at them and I hope our 2 sermons will be mutually encouraging…

Because that is what the gifts are for…they are given by the Holy Spirit for the building up and encouragement of the church…

Why spend 2 Sundays on spiritual gifts?

Well, it’s because they are really important. There’s a lot of misunderstanding in our day about them…what Paul will more bluntly term ‘ignorance’…

It might sound a bit simplistic, but the more charismatic element of the church is inclined to over-emphasise the gifts, and the reformed wing is inclined to under-emphasise them.

And like the colours of the rainbow, there are lots of different shades in between…

The really important thing is: What does the Bible say?

And that’s where Paul starts this morning in 1 Corinthians 12:1

‘Now about the spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant’

There was a lot of ignorance in Paul’s time about spiritual gifts.

If you glance over the next 2 verses, you’ll see that many of the Corinthian Christians came from a pagan background.

In other words, their experience of spiritual things from the surrounding pagan culture was influenced by evil spirits.

So Paul tells them that no one speaking by the Holy Spirit can say ‘Jesus be cursed’, or the opposite, ‘Jesus is Lord’…

Only the Holy Spirit leads us to proclaim ‘Jesus is Lord’.

If I confess Jesus as Lord, that’s the Holy Spirit at work in me.

Which leads us to look at a bit of background on the Holy Spirit.

Of course we could spend weeks and weeks here, but I just wanted to briefly mention 2 things that Jesus says about the Holy Spirit.

They both come from Jesus’ own words about the Spirit in John 15:26:

(Read)

‘When the Counsellor comes, (that is, the Holy Spirit), He will testify about Me’

In other words, firstly, the work of the Spirit is to point to Jesus, to Who He is, to what He has done for us at the cross, and to testify about Him to others.

His work is to enable us to worship Jesus, to say Jesus is our Lord.

The second thing Jesus says is that the Holy Spirit is ‘the Counsellor’.

In other translations He is described as the Comforter, or as the Advocate.

And He fulfils His work by leading us into truth.

He guides us into truth, truth that builds us up, encourages us, and brings us comfort, particularly the comfort of the Good News that Jesus brings…the Gospel.

The reason we are here this morning is because the Holy Spirit has been at work in our lives. He has revealed Jesus to us. He has opened our hearts to the Good News of the Gospel.

And He continues to reveal Jesus to us day by day and week by week, to build us up and encourage us in faith.

As we’ll see in a moment He gives us spiritual gifts that encourage and build us up in our private devotions, and gifts that build us up as a church family…the gift of tongues and the gift of prophecy.

We’ll see these in more detail in 1 Corinthians 14.

I know last week you were looking at the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians.

What is this fruit?

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self control…

Just as the fruit of the Spirit is like a tree producing good fruit in us, He gives good gifts because He is GOOD…

Let’s pause for a moment and think back on our experiences of the Holy Spirit.

Some of us may feel our lives have been radically changed by a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit.

Others of us may feel very apprehensive as we’ve been frightened by well meaning Christians who have put pressure on us to share and replicate their experiences of the Holy Spirit.

They may have pressured us to think we have to speak in tongues, or fall over, or laugh, or make strange noises.

If that’s us today, let’s be encouraged by what Paul says next in 1 Corinthians 12:4-6

(Read)

Paul is saying we’re all different.

We’re created by God as unique people, with different personalities, different temperaments, and different gifts.

When it comes to spiritual gifts, it’s easy to look at other people and think:

This is the way I should be…

If someone has a tingling sensation in their hands after being prayed for, we think, ‘I should have that sensation too’

And maybe we will have that sensation, but maybe we won’t.

Sometimes when I pray, I get a tingling sensation around my forehead, but I’ve never heard anyone else say that.

That’s because we’re all unique, and God touches and speaks to us in unique ways.

Someone once said this:

‘Don’t try to receive the same experience we’ve seen in others…faith is not about FEELINGS we experience, faith is in God and in His Word.’

At the same time, Paul reminds us to ‘eagerly desire the gifts of the Spirit’

And in 1 Corinthians 12:7, he says

(Read)

‘The manifestations of the Spirit are given for the common good’

There it is again…’the common good’…the manifestations of the Spirit are for building up the church family, encouraging us, bringing us comfort. 

These gifts are for our good….because they come from a GOOD God…

Let’s let that sink in for a moment.

If we’re fearful of what God might do, if we’ve been in situations where we’ve experienced something that’s frightened us, we might be very apprehensive about spiritual gifts.

But notice Paul’s words…these manifestations of the Spirit are for our common good…

Behind some of our fearfulness might be a deep rooted distrust in God’s goodness.

We fear that if we let go of control, something bad might happen.

There may be 1000s of reasons for that, but if we’re to take God at His Word, we need to trust His Word.

And the Bible tells us 1000s and 1000s of times that God is good…

The Father is Good

The Son is Good

The Holy Spirit is Good.

And when the Holy Spirit is at work, when the gifts He gives are manifested, it’s going to be for our GOOD…

Let me give you an example of that.

I remember hearing about a prayer meeting in the church where I was a curate in Tonbridge.

It was a time of listening prayer, and people were asked to wait on God, and share whatever they felt God was saying to them.

One lady said she felt really embarrassed saying it, but she sensed God had put on her heart 2 words: Peter Rabbit!!

No wonder she felt embarrassed, yet she was brave enough to share it!

As she shared it, another lady the other side of the room started to cry.

That lady had a child who had recently died aged 7, and guess who the little girls favourite character had been?

Peter Rabbit.

The word of knowledge that was courageously shared in a caring church environment was given to help with the healing process of devastating grief.

And it’s the word of knowledge, which Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 12:8…

Here is the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

Paul then goes on to give a list of the gifts of the Spirit in verses 8-11

(Read)

I’m hoping David will be able to say a bit more about these next Sunday, as this a more general introduction.

But Paul also focusses on 2 particular gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 14:1-5…the gift of tongues and the gift of prophecy…

You may be wondering why Paul doesn’t just continue to look at these gifts in chapter 13…

Why change the subject in chapter 13 and leave the further teaching on gifts to chapter 14?

Well, there may be a hint of why in chapter 13:1

(Read)

Before Paul goes on to talk about the gift of tongues and prophecy, he tells us that if we use these gifts without love, we sound like clashing symbols or resounding gongs…

Sounds that frighten and disturb, rather than add to a wonderful melody.

The reason 1 Corinthians 13 sits where it does is because it is the filling in the sandwich.

And the filling in the sandwich is God’s love.

Paul is saying we may give impressive prophecies, and we may speak in tongues, but if it’s not done in love, it does nothing…

‘If I do not have love, I am nothing’ (1 Cor 13:2)

As so often, the Bible comes back to our motives…am I using my gifts in love? Or am I using them for myself?

Are these gifts being used to build up the church, or to build up my ego?

So Paul begins Chapter 14 with these words:

‘Follow the way of love’…BEFORE he goes on to say ‘eagerly desire the gifts of the Spirit’

Paul really wants us to pray for spiritual gifts, to desire them, but they are primarily given to be used in love…

And he points out the difference between the gift of tongues and the gift of prophecy…(read 1 Corinthians 14:2)

The gift of tongues is primarily about speaking to God. It’s a gift that can help us to communicate with God when our words are not enough.

It’s as though we give over to God our tongue and the words we utter.

At Pentecost, that meant people hearing God being praised in their own languages.

And that sometimes happens today.

Paul is clear that when the gift of tongues are used in a church setting, there needs to be someone present with the gift of interpretation of the tongue.

Otherwise it may make no sense to the listener.

That’s because the person is speaking to God in their own language.

So the gift of tongues can help us in our own personal devotion, but unless there’s an interpreter, it doesn’t help the church.

Nevertheless, it’s still a gift to be ‘eagerly desired’…as is the gift of prophecy…

The difference, Paul tells us, is that the gift of prophecy ‘edifies the church’

(Read 1 Corinthians 14:3-5)

More on that next week; but briefly, prophecy has been described by someone as ‘forth-telling rather than foretelling’

The OT prophets were foretellers…they spoke about the coming destruction of Jerusalem…they pointed towards the coming of Jesus in the NT.

NT prophecy is about forth telling…it’s bringing words that strengthen, encourage, and comfort the family of God, the church.

That may be through a sermon, hearing God’s word preached, it may be through a testimony, it may be through a picture that God has given.

And it needs to be weighed by Scripture, against what the speaker has shared.

So weigh up what I’m sharing this morning, and ask yourself, is this what the Bible says?!!

And is it all being done with love? With God’s love?

‘And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love’


Category: Sermons , The Bridge

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