For The Common Good

Who is spiritual?

Do certain people have greater access to God and Jesus? Are there different “statuses” as Christians?

Not everything that “looks” spiritual is.

This is part of the point of the beginning verses of our chapter. What matters is where the destination leads.

True spirituality leads to Jesus.

We cannot claim to be “spiritual” if we are not being led to Jesus. We cannot claim to be spiritual if we are not leading others to Jesus. If we lead people to ourselves or even the church but not Jesus we are missing the point.

The Spirit actively gives “gifts” to the Church.

This is not a passive determination or haphazard. The Spirit determines what is given; not us!

Uniformity is not the goal. Unity in Jesus is.

Notice this. Different and same. Different and same. The use of the gifts should not split and destroy God’s church/community.

The purpose—for the common good of the community.

Spiritual gifts are never about the person but always about the kingdom of God.

The list is descriptive not prescriptive.

As we will see in this series there are different lists Paul “creates” but they are not identical.

Some gifts are “extra” on top of what is expected of all of us.

Faith, wisdom, and knowledge are in this category.

We must trust the Spirit.

This is key

We must be in the community of God.

We do not get to figure this out alone.

We all have a role to play.

Every one of us has a gift. Not one of us have all the gifts. To be healthy we must use our gifts for Jesus.