Now Concerning Spiritual Gifts pt. 4

Do not forget how this passage started with the phrase, “Now concerning spiritual gifts...”

This entire section deals with this singular topic.

There was, you guessed it, a problem in the Corinthian church. ( A list of problems actually). The current issue is not so much over the gifts of the Spirit, but over one in particular: tongues.

Like today, the gift of tongues was misunderstood.

Verses 1-11 Paul lays out the case that there is a great diversity of gifts, all of which are given sovereignly by the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation. The Corinthians needed to learnt that they had no say in which gift they recieved.

Purpose

Verses 12-31 deal with the practical aspects of the gifts, namely their purpose. Why wait until the end of the night to get the best part? Here is the purpose of the Spiritual gifts: To unify the church!

1 Corinthians 12:12 KJV 1900

12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

Problem

The desire for the gift of tongues was tearing the church at Corinth apart....it still is.

I am afraid that verse 13 is being used out of context:

1 Corinthians 12:13 KJV 1900

13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

The false teaching concerning the baptism of the Spirit:

Some today teach that the baptism occurs at some point AFTER salvation

Notice that Paul says, “ALL are baptized in the spirit”

Some say the baptism of the Spirit is evidenced by “speaking in tongues”

The Bible teaches that the gift of tongues was a specific gift, and it is NEVER mentioned as evidence of anything!

Some teach today that a person must pray for the baptism of the Spirit

Funny how the Bible never mentions that!

The baptism of the Spirit occurs the moment you trust Jesus as your Savior. Your plucked from the body of unbelievers and placed into the body of believers.

A proper understanding of the baptism of the Spirit leads to...

Unity in Diversity

We have mentioned that the diversity of gifts are necessary for the proper function of the church, and verses 14-31 bear that out.

Let’s read verses 14-26 together...

A good illustration is your car! Show of hands, how many of you drove to church tonight with just your:

Battery?

Axles?

Steering wheel?

Driver seat?

Just as all parts of the car are necessary so are the diversity of Spiritual gifts in the church!

Now, look at verses 27-31 as Paul drives the nail home...

Their obsession with the sign gifts, especially tongues, had blinded them to the fact that it was God who distributed to each of them their individual gifts, for the betterment of the whole body!

Can you imagine if everyone in our church had the same spiritual gift? We’d be a lopsided church!

Take Away:

Time and again in this study we seen the root problem in Corinth was their division, 1 Cor. 12:25 “25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.”

A divided church is a powerless church.

We must be careful to guard ourselves against this spirit of division. Let it be our prayer, our desire that PCCC will remain faithful to God and to one another in unity.