The Common Good

“God has not given us the Spirit just for us, but for each other…
1 Corinthians 12:7

1 Corinthians 12-14
These gifts would be a part of the regular life and gatherings of the church…

• In the body of Christ all its parts are necessary… the context of the body of Christ centers around love (ch 13) and the use of spiritual gifts… God wants the body operating in all of the gifts and in love…

• If love, and spiritual gifts, and their verity, are not working together it gets a little wonky…

• These gifts are for our good… Is it any wonder that the enemy makes these gifts so divisive… or tries to corrupt them… or tries to sneak pride into the heart of those God would use…

• Please don’t allow misuse to drive you to disuse…

• The gifts of the Spirit need to be operational outside of the four walls of this building…

Quick note here… Not everything that’s connected to the Pentecostal experience is a gift of the Spirit…
• Praying loud is not a gift of the Spirit… We can get excited, the volume is not an indicator of the Spirit…

• Taking a lap around the sanctuary (Jericho March)… I’ve taken a few laps in myself… is not a gift for the Spirit… It can be an act of obedience if the Spirit is leading… it can simply be an expression of excitement, because we serve an exciting God…

• These aren’t bad things… We just need to understand the difference between excitement, and the gifts…

Wisdom – This is a message of supernatural insight that meets the needs of the one hearing…
• This goes beyond common sense… Spirit led wisdom…

Knowledge – Supernatural insight into what the Bible says about God, and His will…

Faith – This is not talking about saving faith, but faith to believe God for anything…

Healing – Healing of sickness and disease in all its forms… This gift is dictated by the Spirit, and His timing…

Miracles – Supernatural things, that bring glory to God, that cannot be explained by natural means…

Prophecy – This gift can be foretelling of the future… but more often it’s the word of the Lord that cuts to the heart, that convicts the heart and inspires worship, that can humble us to repentance, and build up the downtrodden…

Discerning of spirits – The word means “weighing carefully”… It means to test and see through the facade to whether something is from God or not…

Tongues and Interpretation – the close pairing of these two gifts seem to point to their public use… We’ll touch on that in chapter 14…

So what is this more excellent way?
1 Corinthians 13
• This portion of scripture is not speaking against spiritual gifts… The spiritual gifts are vital to the church, they are for “the common good”… this is simply speaking to the motive within the heart in how they are exercised…

The heart of all we do, including our operation within the spiritual gifts, must be done in love…

1 Corinthians 14:1 Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.
(12:31 But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.)
• God desires that all His gifts, in His timing, would be expressed within the church… so then to this question: What is “the best gifts” or the “greater gifts?” … if all these gifts are important, and they are, what is the most important…

The greater gifts that should be practiced in our services, and daily lives toward one another, are all the intelligible gifts… If we are pursuing love, and in that, putting others above ourselves… and if we are desiring the spiritual gifts which are for the common good… Then the greatest gifts are the ones that speak clearly the word of God…

• Physical healing is awesome, and can arrest the attention of people… but if it’s not coupled with the word of God, or spirit led conversation, And they do not hear the gospel… it’s only a stay of execution…

• If tongues is all it means to be Pentecostal, and I’m not being empowered to witness, and build up the body of Christ… then I am missing the point of being biblically spirit filled…

• The gift of Tongues is our personal communication with God… like an encrypted text…

• The gift of Interpretation is the greater gift… that we would not simply be encouraged ourselves, but communicate to each other that which “edifies, exhorts, and comforts”…

• Both the tongue, and the interpretation are in a public, its setting matters, it’s simply an issue of time and place… Personal Prayer time… Public expression/ Practically looks like… It looks like this: 1 Corinthians 14:5, 13-14, 22-25
• This is the purpose of tongues and interpretation… if you already have faith, tongues are not necessary for you to believe… but tongues for the unbeliever arrest the attention… and can speak to the soul…

1 Corinthians 14:12, 17-19
• What is our heart and our motive for our zeal for the Pentecostal experience… Is it to build up the church… We must seek that God would reveal our hearts to ourselves… and make sure our motives are God honoring…

• “More than you all” why? it was the weight of his ministry, he needed that personal edification and communion with God… if you are struggling, God’s given you a prayer language for a reason… pray in the spirit…

1 Corinthians 14:26-33
• This is what balanced, Spirit led services look like… Not every services will have everything… God will do what’s needed for the moment…

1 Corinthians 14:34-35
• In a context of love, and order… stop yelling across the room with questions…

1 Corinthians 14:36-40
• Here Paul is speaking from his Apostolic authority… and in love, he’s speaking to correction to the one who says, ‘I just can’t control myself’…
• Paul is calling both for the use of the gifts, and their operation and love for one another, and being self-controlled and it all…

We’ve talked a lot about the gifts of the Spirit… let me encourage you if you have not been Baptized in the Holy Spirit, this would be great day to experience this gift…

Acts 1:8 – but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Luke 11:13 – If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

Mark 1:8 – I baptized you with water; but He (Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” John the Baptist Speaking of Jesus

Acts 8:17 – Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:4 – And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.”

Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *